It is known to deactivate a combustion event in one or more cylinders of an internal combustion engine to improve fuel economy by reducing throttle-associated pumping losses when the driver requested torque does not require the use of all engine cylinders. Cylinder deactivation strategies typically eliminate the opening of the intake valves and the exhaust valves in the deactivated cylinder and prevent gas exchange. Deactivation strategies must eventually fire a cylinder in which a combustion cycle was deactivated. For cam-driven valvetrains employing cylinder-deactivation strategies, gas exchange between the exhaust valves and intake valves is not possible if the exhaust valve is deactivated preceding the intake valve opening event. This causes cycle-to-cycle charge-air intake differences as the trapped combusted gas mass varies following a deactivated combustion cycle, compared to following a fired or activated combustion cycle, and renders utilizing internal residual management (i.e. valve overlap) difficult or impossible. Without the use of residual management strategies, opportunities for reducing fuel consumption (via de-throttling), reducing exhaust emissions (via dilution), and improving combustion stability (via heat addition) are eliminated. Additionally, the potential for opening an intake valve into a positively pressured engine cylinder exists when the exhaust valve is deactivated, which could lead to a catastrophic failure of the intake valve and manifold.